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The Millard J. and Robert L. Heath
Award, named in honor of the
combined service and exemplary
stewardship of Millard J. and
Robert L. Heath, former DCMS chief
executive officers, recognizes and honors
a layperson who has provided outstanding
leadership and service to medicine and to
the community of Dallas.
Helping his community has always
been at the forefront of Stephen Love’s
work. From serving as the president and
CEO of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital
Council to working with local public figures
to advocate for health and wellness
programs, Love has tirelessly championed
beneficial change in the medical field.
Love’s passion for this work has
led him to serve on the board of many
organizations with missions focusing on
collaboration and helping others. He has
also remained constant in communicating
health safety to the public, especially since
the emergence of COVID-19.
While Love has made incredible
strides in the healthcare industry, he
hasn’t pursued any of these paths for
the recognition. When discussing his
receipt of this award, he was extremely
grateful to have been acknowledged. “I’m
very humbled by this award, and I’m very
appreciative of this award, and sometimes
I’m not sure I deserve this award. It’s such
an honor to be recognized,” Love said.
Love believes in the importance of hard
work and has lived his life exemplifying
this trait in service of others.
A Passion to Serve
Love has spent the last 46 years of his
life working in the healthcare industry. He
found himself in his current role at the
DFW Hospital Council after his previous
place of employment, Triad Hospitals Inc.,
merged with another company. After considering
retirement, Love instead decided
to accept the position of president and
CEO at the DFW Hospital Council. “I was
very lucky and fortunate that the search
committee interviewed me and hired me,”
Love said, remaining modest about his
18 DALLAS MEDICAL JOURNAL • January 2021
leadership role.
The DFW Hospital Council focuses on
promoting collaboration and cooperation
among its 90 member hospitals. Love
talked highly of the company’s work
in public policy and advocacy as well.
“COVID-19 is a great example,” Love said.
“We pulled together, and we worked with
the CEOs, the chief medical officers, the
chief nursing executives, human resource
leaders … to coordinate with long-term
care facilities and senior living facilities.”
The DFW Hospital Council works on
several initiatives, such as workforce
support and patient safety. Workforce
surveys and reports assist in ensuring the
needs of healthcare workers are taken
care of, and collaboration with external
community organizations helps to promote
health and wellness in the community at
large. Love stresses the importance of
working on these objectives alongside
member hospitals, state representatives,
and the Texas Hospital Association, which
represents hospitals throughout Texas.
He focuses primarily on working on these
initiatives and maintaining good relations
with the local and state governments to
best impact healthcare in the area.
Love relies on his staff and a board
of hospital executives to help him
strategically execute the DFW Hospital
Council’s mission. A big part of this
collaboration is deciding on the kind of
impact they want the DFW Hospital Council
to make on the community. “One of the
things that we wanted to emphasize to the
community was some of the good work
that hospitals are doing to help the health
of the community,” Love said. “Last year
we launched ‘The Human Side of Health
Care,’ which is a weekly radio show and
podcast where we bring in guests from our
hospitals, and they explain to the listeners
some of the good programs we’re working
on to truly improve the health of the
community.”
The idea behind the show came from
the DFW Hospital Council’s board. The
organization had previously worked with a
local radio show on a program to identify
behavioral and mental health issues and
to prevent suicide. The experience was a
good one, so another collaboration was
D C M S A W A R D S
THE MILLARD J. AND
ROBERT L. HEATH AWARD
By Samantha Sabio
Love live on FOX4’s Good Day
morning show discussing
Medicaid expansion.